Getting the Most Out of QGIS and GRASS Integration - Desktop GIS: Mapping the Planet with Open Source Tools - page 212

Figure 12.9: Buffered eagle nests created with GRASS and QGIS
except E1 are at least 500 meters from the nearest road. Nest E4 comes
close to being within the buffer distance of the road but is still at least
500 meters away. If we were doing an impact analysis, this simple tool
provides a quick way to visualize the relationships.
To create the buffer, we first put the eagles' nest map over the topo-
graphic raster map. Then from the GRASS toolbox, we selected the Vec-
tor Buffer module. When you click the module, it opens a new tab for
the buffer operation in the toolbox. Since we had only one GRASS map
loaded, the eagles_nest map is chosen as the input vector map. We then
just specify the buffer distance in map units, in this case 500 meters,
and eagles_nests_500m_buf as the name for the output map. When we
click Run, the buffer layer is created, and we can review the output
from the buffer processing if we want. To add the newly created buffer
to the map canvas, we just click the View Output button. It sounds like
a lot of steps, but in reality it takes about ten seconds to create a buffer,
depending of course on how fast you type.